Trip to Vegas

We left LA by 9:00 am and started our journey to Las Vegas. We were full of enthusiasm. After about 5 and a half hour journey we reached our Hotel ‘Nevada Landing Hotel and casino’. We rested for an hour or two and moved to see the night life at the Vegas. Our hotel was off the strip and was about 26 miles from the Strip area. Visiting Vegas is entirely different than other cities, its Vegas where there are lights, buildings, malls and casinos. Las Vegas was as trashy, tacky, and glamorous and exciting as one can imagine. You can drink, gamble and eat 24 hours a day in Vegas. It's the only place in America that I have seen or heard where people walking down the street with open beers and all. We reached there by 5 pm but still the temperature was in the nineties. I could remember India that time. That day we visited New York, MGM, Excalibur, Aladdin, Paris, Bellagio and Mirage. Each large hotel has a mall and casino in it. They all have a themes like Paris has a half size replicate of the Eiffel Tower, Luxor is a pyramid based on Egypt ,New York has a Statue of Liberty etc. The most impressive of the all we visited was Aladdin, having a glance of an ancient Arab with fake sky and buildings. One could get tired but its still not over .We also liked the Musical Fountain in front of the Bellagio. Beauty of Vegas is in Night, when it’s full of lights and Music. All the remaining hours, we spent on Vegas Strip. As a souvenir, I bought a T shirt from LA that says “Feeling Lucky in Las Vegas”.As per schedule, we returned our car and reached Las Vegas airport. We couldn’t believe that even the airport had slot machines. We had our flight on right time. We took our dinner at airport and by then it was the time to be on board.Finally it was time to say Good Bye and to keep all the memories in our heart forever. It’s truly said…."We shall never cease from exploration, And the end of all our exploring, Will be to arrive where we started…"

Hidden Treasures 17-Mile Drive and Hearts castle

17-mile drive is around one and a half hour journey from SFO. The world famous 17-mile drive is a private toll road and is located throughout the Pebble Beach and Del Monte Forest area of Carmel. The town surrounded by 17-mile drive is known as Carmel By- the-Sea. It was quite fogy and we were a bit early there. But the beauty of the sea with the roar of waves just made it wonderful. It is one of the most beautiful sights to visit, with the landscapes of land and sea meeting each other in rocky magnificence.Within this area are world-class golf courses, such as the Pebble Beach Golf Links, The Links at Spanish Bay, and Spyglass Hill Golf Course. Also to be seen is one of California's most photographed trees, the Lone Cypress. Many vantage stops are on the 17 mile drive with vistas that make you just gasp in wonder like Host trees and Bird RockThe 17-miles-drive is classified as a most Scenic Way out of the other American’s Scenic Roads. Really a lovely place to drive through!Then we move ahead towards Hearts castle. At the appointed time we boarded the bus for our tour. As the bus moved slowly up the hill a recorded voice described the wonders of Hearst's great and visionary creation. At the top of the hill we clustered around our guide. He delivered a discourse on William Randolph Hearst, childhood, parentage and pampered life as the only son of an immensely rich minerals tycoon.Hearts castle was created in 1947 by the imaginative creativity of Hearst and the instructions of architect Julia Morgan. Hearts castle consist of 165 rooms and 127 acres of gardens, terraces, pools and walkways. We were overcome by the magnificence of the first building we came across, however it proved to be only one of the seven enormous guest houses surrounding the main building The actual castle resembled a European church from the outside and the castle from inside was rich in ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman statuary and the work on the ceilings describes the culture of Italy and Spain. Antique furniture, ceilings, doors, paintings, sculptures prove that’s William Randolph Hearst was one of the many wealthy American collectors in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The outside swimming pool was at one time the largest in the world. The indoor pool was lined with a million pieces of Italian glass, much of which was covered with 22-carat gold.At the end of the tour we re-board on our bus and were back to the entrance complex. There we explored more about the life of William Randolph Hearst and the Castle by watching IMAX movie. After completing our tour to Heart Castle we came to know how one could fulfill his dreams so beautifully.And we moved towards Los Angles running alongside the lost hills.We passed by many sandy mountains and wine yards. We reached LA hotel by 7 PM. We were so exhausted that we just took our dinner from a Mexican Restaurant and fell asleep.

Trip to SFO

It was a cool morning, when we started our trip to SFO.We had booked our Alcatraz tour for 9:30 in the morning. So we left hotel by 8:30 AM .As we had to take tour from Pier 41 we parked our car in the parking lot of Pier 41 n rushed in the queue for the tour. Blue and gold line boat drop us on the Alcatraz Island which was considered as America's premier maximum-security prison n was also called as "the Rock" home.We paid a dollar for a self-guide book and go through the various places of interest. We took an Audio tour of about 35 min through which we learnt a lot about Alcatraz and the unsuccessful escape attempts made by prisoners many times. There were many isolated rooms on the island which means Prison inside the prison.It would have been really a horrible prison at that time. Alcatraz also has the oldest operating lighthouse on the West Coast of the United States.After a long tour of Alcatraz we were back on Pier 39 by 12:30 pm. Pier 39 is one of the most -popular tourist attractions of San Francisco and one of most attractive attraction of Pier 39 was Sea Lions. We spent our whole day there. Then, in the evening we moved towards Golden Gate Bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge was the largest suspension bridge in the world when it was completed in 1937. It connects the city of San Francisco to the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula which includes Santa Clara and other cities. We took some pictures of the bridge from a Vista point and walked long way through the bridge.The Golden Gate Bridge was covered in mist that day so we were not able to see the top of the bridge but still it was awesome.